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Phantoms hockey roundup: Three straight losses, again

Phantoms chris vandevelde

Chris VandeVelde gave the Phantoms an early lead against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, but the team nevertheless lost three in a row for the second straight weekend.
(Adirondack Phantoms Photo | ANDY CAMP)

The Phantoms, the minor league ice hockey team affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers, will make Allentown their home next year and become the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. For now, they remain in Adirondack. Here's how the team is doing lately:

Friday: 2-1 shootout loss to Hartford Wolf Pack

Saturday: 4-1 loss to Hershey Bears

Sunday: 5-4 loss to Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Three more games. Three more losses.

For the second straight week, the Phantoms lost three games in as many days, falling into a six-game losing slump and dropping them into dead last in the 30-team American Hockey League.

The recent round of losses -- against three teams that have also lingered around the bottom of the standings -- mark a major disappointment for a team that had hoped to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

The Phantoms started the weekend against the Hartford Wolf Pack, taking an early lead just over five minutes into the game after Chris VandeVelde played a puck off the end-boards and shot it past goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris.

They held that lead most of the game, but Danny Syvret -- who had been a Phantom for most of five seasons before getting traded away last year -- scored the game-tying power-play goal with under four minutes to go in regulation.

The game went to a shootout, where Phantoms netminder Yann Danis, who had looked strong with 32 saves, stopped four of five Hartford chances. But the Phantoms were unable to get one of their five shots past Grumet-Morris. Hartford's Danny Kristo scored the winner.

The Phantoms took another early lead the next day against Hershey. But the Bears responded with four unanswered goals, and the Phantoms never recovered.

Whitmore scored his first two goals for the Phantoms Sunday against Bridgeport, including one on the power play. It was one of three man-advantage goals for the Phantoms (the others coming from Brandon Alderson and Nick Cousins), impressive for a team that has suffered on the power play all season.

But it was not enough to erase Bridgeport's early lead. The Sound Tigers scored twice in the first period and again in the second before the Phantoms could even get on the scoreboard.

The 5-4 loss came against a Bridgeport team that had just lost six consecutive games, including back-to-back shutout losses, falling 7-0 to the Manchester Monarchs on Friday, and 4-0 to the Worcester Sharks on Saturday.

The Phantoms have now won only three in their 18 games, with 12 of those losses in regulation, putting the Phantoms on track for one of their worst season records in their 18-year franchise history.

With only 15 games left in the regular season, making the Calder Cup Playoffs is still technically a mathematical possibility for the Phantoms, but one so remote it's barely worth entertaining.

The top eight teams in the two AHL divisions make the postseason. The Phantoms currently have 32 points, 21 behind the eighth-place Norfolk Admirals.

With two points for each win, and one point for each overtime or shootout loss, the Phantoms would have to win nearly all their remaining games, while many other teams would have to lose a majority of theirs.

Here is a roundup of Phantoms-related news stories from the past week: